Mobile App - P0: How other Games Look

samgawaran commented 1 year ago

Summary

https://discord.com/channels/605233308577562643/1054792032117329951/1055244619178315888 The team decided to focus more on the portrait version for our mobile app. Attached in this submission is a compiled list of popular games that we can draw inspiration from.

I prioritized games that are Fun & Social to fit our brand. and also Board and Dice games to see how games with similar mechanics like ours fare as well.

How other games look

Games are tested on an Android phone
Rating besides the names are the rating scores from Google Playstore

Landscape and Portrait Mode

Candy Crush | 4.6/5

over a billion downloads since 2012
can play as guest, can also login using email or facebook
Huge campaign mode with over 12000+ levels as of July 2022

Chess.com | 4.7/5

10 million downloads since 2010
Extensive AI choices from low ELO to Grandmaster
Has a Desktop version, allow adding of friends and subscriptions

Scrabble GO-Classic Word Game | 3.9/5

over 10 millions downloads since 2017
official scrabble board game
has a lot of ads and UI could be better
allows landscape mode but lackluster in implementation

Roblox | 4.3/5

over 500 millions downloads since 2014
requires 2FA to log-in
Menu is locked on portrait mode but the games made in Roblox can either be Landscape or Portrait
Basic UI. Also has a desktop app
Extensive social system, you can add friends and message them inside the app

Landscape Mode Only

Clash of Clans | 4.6/5

500 million downloads since 2013
allows account linking of supercell ID and Google Play
Tower defense and conquering game which you can also add friends
intuitive touch controls

Brawl Stars | 4/5

over 100 million downloads since 2018
shooter game with a lot of game modes and special events
same developers of Clash of Clans so a lot of popups and modules looks the same

Catan Universe | 3.4/5

over a million downloads since 2017
top competitor for Catan-based mobile game
Has a lot of issues hence the low rating. Also has a desktop version
Angry Birds 2 | 4.3/5
over 100 million downloads since 2015
gorgeous graphics and UI
allows account linking from facebook and google play store
extensive customization of player avatar

Risk: Global Domination | 4/5

over 10 million downloads since 2017
have a lot of game modes, can play ranked or with friends
each game mode has a ranked/unranked version
offers a lot of playable maps

Uno! | 4.6/5

over 100 million downloads since 2019
official mobile app version of the Uno card game
lot of social features, players can add friends and message them in the app
several game modes to choose from, game modes are in the landing page

Domino Go | 4.6/5

competitive 1v1 game mode
doesn't allow pinching to maximize the size of the board. the board is always maximized on the screen
you need to play a certain number of games to unlock other game modes

Farmville 2: Country Escape | 4.5/5

over 50 million downloads since 2014
same developer with Word With Friends
intuitive touch controls
daily challenges keeps you engage

Marvel Contest of Champions

over 100 million downloads since 2014
Tekken-like PVP game with a lot of touch controls
Need to play tutorial to unlock the whole game
UI is a bit outdated or out of our brand

Genshin Impact | 4.3/5

over 50 million downloads since 2020
earned 17 million dollars in the app store as of September 2022
Multi-compatible, available on almost all platforms, PS5, Switch, Desktop, Mobile etc.
MMORPG/Gacha Game which needs a huge chunk of data to download 20GB file size
Amazing graphics and UI
didn't finish the download as it my CP's memory is full so gameplay screenshots came from the web.

Fate / Grand Order | 3.9/5

over 1 million downloads since 2018
earned 13 million dollars in the app store as of September 2022
Hero-summoning game/Gacha game needs atleast 500MB of additional resource to play the game
game based from the popular visual novel game
Lackluster UI. Basic UX

Portrait Mode Only

Temple Run 2 | 4.2/5

over 500 million downloads since 2013
intuitive touch controls
has motion controls, when you move right, the game also leans on the right and vice versa
can connect your facebook account

Board Kings | 4.6/5

Gorgeous Art
UI is kept to a minimum, a lot of actionable buttons are placed inside the board
I didn't understand the gameplay much. No landing page or other game modes

Pokemon Go | 3.9/5

over 100 million downloads since 2016
intuitive touch controls
gorgeous art
a bit buggy, it could be the cause of the low rating
very customizable avatar

Ludo Club | 4.3/5

over 100 million downloads since 2017
doesn't allow pinching to maximize the size of the board. the board is always maximized on the screen
Game modes are on the landing page
Allows account linking

Match Masters | 4.5/5

over 10 million downloads since 2017
Gorgeous graphics and UI
Game modes are unlocked by playing set of tutorials
can add friends and play with them, game is derived from Candy Crush with more competitive mechanics

Word with Friends 2 Classic | 4.2/5

over 10 million downloads since 2017
game based from Scrabble
has a lot of ads. UI isn't that pleasing as well

Royal Match | 4.7/5

over 10 million downloads since 2021
similar to Candy Crush but with more PVP features, contains rankings and leaderboards and guilds
Seamless and quick tutorial. Big campaign mode with aesthetic rewards

Coin Master | 4.3/5

over 100 million downloads since 2016
Clash of Clans like game but simplified and puts an emphasis on roulette
Pleasing graphics and UI. easy to understand tutorial and has a lot of touch controls
A bit forceful in the player signing in to facebook, a lot of popups once they enter

Findings

4 out of 23 games allow hybrid orientation, 11 are landscape only while 8 are portrait only
Board games and casual games uses a lot of intuitive touch controls. Pinching, sliding, dragging can be use to improve the experience in our app
games that have low ratings, CU, and Pokemon Go have a lot of issues. This could be the reason why it has a low rating
All of the games contain in-app purchases
almost all of the games allow players to link their facebook accounts
Games that feature a lot of game modes usually show the game modes in the homepage either via cards or icons
added games from this data. Most of the higher earning games are Gacha-based games or games that has a lot of coin purchases
Some of the top games there are restricted in my region (Philippines) so I can't download it

Submission Checklist

[x] have you tried to check other games via gameuidatabase?
I checked some games in the gameuidatabase but I think that the mobile games there are more of a single player experience compared to multiplayer like in all of the games I tested out here.
[x] Have you tried asking openchat.ai?
Yes, but the problem is that a lot of the stuff the AI chatbot mentioned isn't factual, it mentioned Fortnite but we can't play Fortnite on the mobile app (or its not available for Android) and other stuff.
[x] what are the next steps?
develop the UI further. Focus on exploring the portrait version as discussed in the discord channels
[x] This submission abides by Des-lvl-1, Des-lvl-2 & Des-lvl-3

Reviewers